San Diego Padres Hitters Of The Month - May 2025

[Randy Holt]

Given that the year is 2025, we are collectively aware that Runs Batted In is no longer considered an accurate indicator of a player's ability. But the San Diego Padres spent a good chunk of May finding it difficult to score runs. In one stretch, in particular, they plated only 12 runs total across eight games, which is why we're going to put a little extra emphasis on the idea of the RBI in identifying this month's top hitter for the club. 

That doesn't mean that our No. 1 was the only guy hitting. Despite playing their role in that stretch above, each of Jake Cronenworth & Jackson Merrill have been worthy contributors since their returns earlier this month from respective Injured List stints. However, given that only five hitters even approached the league average threshold presented by wRC+, the following were not difficult to identify.

#3: Luis Arráez
May Stats: .283 AVG, .314 OBP, 2.8% K-rate, 4.7% BB-rate, .101 ISO, 97 wRC+

Given the lack of power present in the profile, it's always difficult for a metric like wRC+ to love a player like Luis Arráez. But after struggling to start the year, he's back to his old ways. Only Manny Machado exceeded Arráez's 28 hits during the month. The craziest thing about his game this year, though, is in the entire absence of strikeouts. 

We know that Arráez is a pure contact hitter who doesn't strike out. However, a 2.8 percent rate for the month is still a remarkable achievement. Even wilder is that it's actually a higher rate than his full-season percentage (2.4 percent). For context, Jacob Wilson's 5.3 percent strikeout rate is the second-lowest in the league. So while he may not offer much else in the way of power or defense, he can be a driver of run production atop the lineup when he's hitting his way on like this.

#2: Manny Machado
May Stats: .356 AVG, .437 OBP, 15.5% K-rate, 12.6% BB-rate, .200 ISO, 182 wRC+

On the merit of the above numbers, Manny Machado was the team's best overall hitter in May. He's starting to strike out less and walk more while providing steady impact, given an ISO figure roughly 60 points higher than the one he turned in during March & April. Even if there are hitters in the league providing more isolated power than even that, the overall picture is MVP-level production that the team saw from Machado for the month. 

They just need it to continue. Machado's power, even on a gap level, has waned in recent years and was off to the slow start we saw in '25. He only drove in a dozen runs this month, with 22 of his 30 hits checking in as singles. It feels silly to knock him for the former, but the impact simply must continue moving forward. Regardless, it was exactly the type of month you wanted to see in projecting the Padres' 2025 outcome.

#1: Gavin Sheets
May Stats: .297 AVG, .319 OBP, 23.1% K-rate, 3.3% BB-rate, .310 ISO, 155 wRC+

Again, we're leaning heavily on the run production element of the month, given some of the valleys to which the offense has sunk. As such, Sheets is kind of the only option when you consider the impact provided over the month. It seemed like any given night featured a two-run shot off the bat of Sheets to at least give the team a shot in the latter innings. 

Sheets hit eight for the month, providing the same amount of home run power as Machado, Jackson Merrill, and Jake Cronenworth combined. He knocked in 22 runs, which exceeded second-place Xander Bogaerts by nine. Sheets remains an imperfect player with the lackluster approach at the plate (as depicted in the K/BB split), but there wasn't a hitter who had a more important impact on the team's fortunes in May than a guy who was a non-roster invitee just a few months ago.

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